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Every now and then, though, I just have to take issue with his advice. The question from concerned parents several years ago was what to do about their 17-year-old daughter and her boyfriend. The letter said the daughter is an honor student, and is not a risk-taker, “except with boys.” She and her current boyfriend are chafing under her parents’ rule that they cannot be alone together, and she has been caught texting her boyfriend about “sneaking out in cars to be alone.”<br /><br />Mr. Rosemond started his response by saying, “Your question, however brief, absolutely drips with evidence that the two of you are guilty of world-class micromanagement.” He then went on to define “micromanagement” and its effects, “deceit, disloyalty, conflict and communication problems.” Rosemond said that these young people are engaging in three of the four of those effects and the final one, disloyalty, will surely follow if the parents continue in their destructive behavior of micromanagement.<br /><br />Mr. Rosemond seemed to ignore the towering clue in the parents’ question, that their daughter tends to be a risk-taker with boys. They know their daughter; Mr. Rosemond does not. He casts that aside and seems to imply that the parents are incompetent because they want to maintain standards of behavior with their daughter for her own protection. Mr. Rosemond admits that young children need tight reins on their behavior, and I agree that as our children grow, those reins need to be loosened, in direct proportion to the wisdom and responsibility our children display. Rosemond even agrees that “some teens, because they have demonstrated a serious inability to make good decisions, may need to be micromanaged.” But then he goes on to say, “the very teen who needs it is not going to submit to it. A teen who does not need it is not going to submit to it, either. Therefore, micromanagement does not work with teens. Period.”<br /><br />Wow. I know Mark Twain quipped, “When a child turns 12 you should put him in a barrel, nail the lid down and feed him through a knot hole. When he turns 16, plug the hole.” That view of parenting teens would be on one end of the scale. Mr. Rosemond’s counsel sounds dangerously close to the other extreme, where one might suggest, “Teenagers are going to do what they want to do, no matter what we tell them and no matter how we have trained them. So, let’s take our hands off, let them go, and pray for the best.” I would suggest there is a healthy middle ground between an authoritarian and a laissez-faire style of parenting. I would call it “loving accountability.”<br /><br />Every teen needs adults, particularly parents, who will hold him accountable, raise the standards, help him grow up “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Every adult needs that as well. I meet with two men weekly, early in the morning before work, and the meeting has one purpose: loving accountability. We ask each other questions like, “Have you led your family consistently in devotions this week?” “Have you been with a woman this week in a way that could be viewed as compromising?” “Have you viewed any sexually explicit material?” “Are you praying with and for your wife regularly?”<br /><br />Are we men “micromanaging” each other? No, we are acknowledging before God that left to ourselves we cannot be trusted, that our hearts are deceptive, that we desperately need men who will help us with “loving accountability.”<br /><br />Loving accountability. Even a 17-year-old honor student needs that from her parents.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/-zurvRKXiEc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/-zurvRKXiEc/loving-accountability-is-not.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/03/loving-accountability-is-not.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-8855383679671285760Mon, 11 Mar 2019 13:45:00 +00002019-03-11T09:45:53.965-04:00Do Not Be Ashamed of the Gospel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Qrgx1glIQ8/XIZmV_EYyGI/AAAAAAAAB3Y/jomDcwtq3Wgx4M4zpStGjn1sYTZiZ3DkQCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_145291503.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1280" height="290" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Qrgx1glIQ8/XIZmV_EYyGI/AAAAAAAAB3Y/jomDcwtq3Wgx4M4zpStGjn1sYTZiZ3DkQCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_145291503.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>In his second letter to the young pastor, Paul says to Timothy in so many words, “Do not be ashamed of Jesus’ name. Or of his people. Especially those who are persecuted because of their boldness to proclaim the very truth that you are also to proclaim!” There has always been a temptation to avoid association with Christ if it means we may be persecuted. How many of the disciples scattered when Jesus was arrested? All of them. How many believers stood with Paul in Rome when he was put on trial for his life? Not one. We may have a hard time understanding the context of severe persecution because people in the U.S. are not arrested for preaching the gospel and talking about Jesus. Not yet.<br /><br />We all rejoiced over the release of Pastor Brunson in Turkey a few months ago. He was imprisoned for two years on charges of terrorism. Brunson had been in Turkey since the mid-1990s to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I praise God that there was an international outcry over his imprisonment. We also rejoiced over the release of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani in Iran several years ago. He was imprisoned for three years, labeled an “apostate,” waiting to die for preaching the name of Jesus. Again, there was an international outcry. Iran released him in 2012, and Christians everywhere gave thanks that his trial was ended. But not for long. Iranian police arrested Pastor Youcef again last year, and brutally beat him in his own home and in front of his terrified family. As before, Youcef was arrested for preaching the name of Jesus, and he remains in prison today.<br /><br />There are Christians all over the world who understand what it means when Paul says, “do not be ashamed of me, His prisoner.” Michael Ramsden, who works with Ravi Zacharias, speaks about Christ in closed countries every year. Ramsden often says, “There is no such thing as a closed country if you are willing to die for the gospel.” Several years ago Ramsden was invited to speak on Christianity in a country hostile to the gospel. The Christian organizers of the event prayed that there would be an opportunity to present the gospel, not just an academic lecture on the tenets of Christianity. While Ramsden was speaking, a young religious leader was standing in the back with his arms crossed, searing a hole into Michael with his eyes. At the end of the lecture this young man raised his hand and said, “There is something that no teacher or scholar in my religion has been able to answer for me. I want to know why you Christians think that Jesus had to die on the cross.”<br /><br />Michael was ecstatic about the question. It was an answer to the prayer of the organizers. But he was nervous, too. Because he knew that to answer that question, he would have to say that their entire religion is wrong on a fundamental level about who Jesus is and what He did on the cross. As Michael Ramsden was about to answer, his host grabbed his arm and said, “Michael, answer very carefully. It is one thing to die for sharing the gospel. It is another thing to die for sharing it poorly.”<br /><br />Perhaps some raw honesty is needed here. The vast majority of Christians in this country tend to be embarrassed when they see someone preaching on the sidewalk. Sometimes we are embarrassed, I know, because the person is misrepresenting the good news; they are sharing it poorly. Sometimes we are embarrassed to see someone witnessing to strangers or handing out tracts in the park. Or even bowing their heads at a restaurant to pray before a meal. We are tempted to flee persecution of any kind, even if it means we compromise the truth of the gospel through our shame.<br /><br />Do not be ashamed of speaking in the name of Jesus, and proclaiming the truth and life that only he can give. Without the gospel, there are no answers.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/qhtfi2Ku6hs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/qhtfi2Ku6hs/do-not-be-ashamed-of-gospel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/03/do-not-be-ashamed-of-gospel.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-4429369828244158666Mon, 04 Mar 2019 14:46:00 +00002019-03-04T09:46:47.187-05:00Missing the Sign is Costly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9CzuoUQhlj8/XH06JUcQ4WI/AAAAAAAAB3E/nFJBlAm9gUc8D-e-lIqj8WV5KDI61S_TQCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_228756838.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9CzuoUQhlj8/XH06JUcQ4WI/AAAAAAAAB3E/nFJBlAm9gUc8D-e-lIqj8WV5KDI61S_TQCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_228756838.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>I know what you’re thinking; there are lots of ways I could go with this column. Missing the “bridge out” sign can ruin your whole day. Missing the sign that your wife wants you to stop thinking about yourself and just listen to her can make for a quiet evening. Missing the sign that says “no shoes, no service” can leave you hungry. And since it’s baseball season, let me toss this one out there as well. Missing the sign your catcher gave you can lead to a passed ball, and a run scored.<br /><br />I missed a sign, and it cost me a few hours and more than $200. It happened one Saturday in December, when my wife and I were traveling to a southern city in the Old North State to meet relatives for brunch. Cindy had errands to run when we returned and so did I, so we decided to leave a car in Graham and pick it up when we got back into town. I thought of a place right off the interstate where a restaurant used to be years ago, and told her we could leave my car there and drive hers.<br /><br />We went to the brunch, had a great time, drove back to Graham all fat and happy, only to find that my car was gone. I had noticed when I left it that morning that it was the only car on the lot, but that didn’t register with me that maybe there was a reason for that.<br /><br />When we discovered it missing, our first thought was that it had been stolen — until I walked out to the street and saw a small sign on a pole, informing all who bothered to read it that parking in this lot is not permitted, and all violators will be towed. Good grief. In all my years, I had never had my car towed, unless it was broken down on the side of the road. I called the number on the sign; the man who answered owns the wrecking company and had personally hooked my car to his truck and hauled it to his fenced-in lot. I noticed he was a bit short with me on the phone — a tad guarded you might say. Of course, I was short with him when he told me the amount of cash I had to give him to ransom my vehicle from bondage. “There’s the fee I charge to pick up the vehicle, and there’s a fee I charge to store it,” he told me, explaining why I had to get two Benjamins and change out of the ATM.<br /><br />We drove to the wrecking company and waited for him to arrive. While we were waiting, I alternated between thinking about what could have been done with the money I was about to hand over, and fuming about his so-called “storage fee.” I figured the car couldn’t have been in his lot more than a few hours. So when he arrived and was stepping out of his truck, I said to him, “Hi, I’m the one who called you, and what do you charge for storage?” He faced me, having stepped down from the cab, and said, “How much is your life worth?” Well, that question led made me to pause and reflect, but only for a second.<br /><br />I said, “Well, my life must be worth plenty. Jesus paid for it on the cross.” He then explained that he was a Christian, too, but that there had been numerous occasions when he was hooking up a car at that same lot and the owner approached him ready to fight, sometimes with a weapon. “The people who park there are going into the hotel behind it to get drugs, or something else.” Pause and reflect. I said, “OK, but I was going to eat bacon and eggs with my wife’s father and stepmother!”<br /><br />The end of the story was laughter, and I met a brother in Christ. I also learned the lesson again that I need to pay attention to the signs. The ones on the road are important, but so are the ones on the faces of the people I love.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/5ub5DsbXcF0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/5ub5DsbXcF0/missing-sign-is-costly.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/03/missing-sign-is-costly.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-485829995813240222Mon, 25 Feb 2019 03:33:00 +00002019-02-24T22:33:46.725-05:00Church Membership Matters<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IleBo8UbbWo/XHNiAQAUsuI/AAAAAAAAB2w/_j7osxSAfvgqArZm6xTcPQFu8T2VGznyQCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_88021688.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="1280" height="272" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IleBo8UbbWo/XHNiAQAUsuI/AAAAAAAAB2w/_j7osxSAfvgqArZm6xTcPQFu8T2VGznyQCLcBGAs/s640/AdobeStock_88021688.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>A supply preacher for a small town Texas church came in early on Sundays, preached a sermon to the congregation, and then left after lunch. One Sunday he arrived earlier than usual, so he sat down at a local donut shop, opened his Bible and went over his sermon notes. A man sitting down the counter said, “You a preacher or something?” “Yes,” he replied, “I preach at the Christian Church here in town.” The man got excited and said, “Hey, I’m a member of that church.” The church was small and the supply preacher knew all the regulars so he said, “I’ve been preaching there for about three months and I’ve never seen you there.” The other fella gave the preacher a strange look and answered, “I said I was a member of that church. I never said I was fanatical about it!”<br /><br />Ok, so here’s the question. Would you feel like your hands were fanatics if you woke up every day and they were still attached? How about your feet? Would you think your liver was over-the -edge “too committed” if it stayed in place and did its job, day in and day out? How about your eyeballs?<br /><br />If you answered no to all of those questions, then you are still in your right mind. It has not left you. So, get this. The church is compared to the human body in the Bible. Paul uses a metaphor to compare each individual member of the church to an individual body part: an eye, a foot, an ear, a hand, even a head. (Which gives us assurance that he is speaking in this chapter, 1 Corinthians 12, about the local church body, not the universal church, for which there is one head: Jesus.) The church is also compared to a flock of sheep. That’s why Peter wrote to the elders of the church and said, “Shepherd the flock which is among you.” No shepherd goes out and just finds random sheep and feeds them, or worse, takes them home as his own. That could get a man arrested. No, the shepherd knows the sheep that belong to him, and they know him as well.<br /><br />Here’s the point, three of them in fact. One, we need to be connected to one another in the church just like the feet need to be connected to the body. Connected feet stay healthy; disconnected feet die. The body needs the feet, also, to do its work effectively. The body cannot do all that it is designed to do when one of its members is not able to carry its weight, so to speak. In the same way, the church needs its members to be there, be committed, and do what they have been uniquely gifted by God to do, for the sake of the gospel.<br /><br />Point number two, the body is in this together, for good or for bad. The Bible says, “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.” Don’t believe it? Smash your thumb with a hammer this afternoon, you know, just as a biblical experiment. See if the whole body doesn’t suffer along with it. See if the whole body doesn’t stay awake half the night with the thumb. It is the same with the church. When one member is suffering, either because of willful and unrepentant sin, or because of trials and tragedy, the whole body is affected. That’s when the body also does some of its most important work, to heal the offending or the suffering member. That’s where point three comes in.<br /><br />The members of the body care for one another. Just like your right hand acts in kindness toward your left foot by removing a splinter. The local church cares for its own. The church also reaches out to those who are not connected and invites them to meet Jesus, and to join the local body.<br /><br />Church membership matters. You don’t have to be fanatical about it. But you do need to get connected.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/xvhDUoOb5P0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/xvhDUoOb5P0/church-membership-matters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/02/church-membership-matters.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-7049154065667073683Mon, 18 Feb 2019 16:36:00 +00002019-02-18T11:36:10.857-05:00Is That All You’ve Got?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x2NwEbrXCbE/XGreTXfiANI/AAAAAAAAB2U/u1Vx2EXN3eAminItFNJDVYco0HgzpAZ1gCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_52710842.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x2NwEbrXCbE/XGreTXfiANI/AAAAAAAAB2U/u1Vx2EXN3eAminItFNJDVYco0HgzpAZ1gCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_52710842.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>My favorite place at the Myrtle Beach marathon several years ago was the pre-race expo, and especially the bumper stickers that were for sale. One said, “If you find me on the road, please drag me across the finish line.” Or, “If you can read this, I’m not in last place!” Or, “This IS my race pace.” The next morning, I saw people holding some of the same signs, and many others. Some were signs of encouragement for the 6,000 runners who passed by. Some people were just trying to be funny, and they were. Like the guy just a half a mile into the race whose sign read, “One. Lousy. Parade.” Then there was the lady holding up a sign about 10 miles in that said, “My husband knows a shortcut.” Or the one that said, “The Kenyans finished an hour ago.” Some were meant to be funny, but just were not. When I was in the most pain of the race, around mile 24, I passed a guy standing on the side of the road whose sign read, “Is that all you’ve got?” The most encouraging sign I read said, “I am exactly .3 miles from the finish line.” That was a sight for sore legs. The only sign that was better than that was the one I ran under that said, “Finish.”<br /><br /><div>Paul holds up a sign in his first letter for Timothy, who was a sometimes fragile, sometimes discouraged young pastor, that says, “But you, O man of God.” Man of God! “Timothy,” Paul seems to say, “Remember who you are. You are a man of God.” I wish we could know somehow what effect that had on Timothy. Did he break into a huge grin when he read that? Or did he break down and weep in relief and thanksgiving?<br /><br />More importantly, would the testimony of God and his word be the same for you? What is your identity? Are you a man or woman of God? Would you be able to say with confidence that you are one of his “peculiar people,” as Peter refers to believers? If you are born again, having been purchased by the peculiar and unique manner of the blood of the Savior on a cross, you are a man of God or a woman of God, no matter your age. You have been made to “stand” because of what Jesus Christ did, not because of anything you have done or ever will do. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”<br /><br />How are we able to stand? By grace. How do we get grace? Through faith. But where does faith come from? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. What is the result of this grace applied to our lives? We have peace with God. How? We have been justified (declared just and righteous, because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us). What can we do as a result? Rejoice in hope of the glory of God!<br /><br />This is why Christians around the world celebrate the risen Savior every day. Jesus Christ hung on a cross for six hours one Friday, was dead and buried from 3 p.m. Friday until sometime before dawn on Sunday, and then he rose from the dead. He appeared to Peter, to the other disciples, and to more than five hundred at once.<br /><br />Do you know Him? If you do, then you know what many in the world can only dream about. You know who you are. If that is “all you’ve got,” as the sign declared to my weary soul on a Myrtle Beach street, then that is plenty. It means that you are standing with the One who conquered sin, death, and the grave. There’s no better finish line in all the world.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/Kz5d_FD-yTk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/Kz5d_FD-yTk/is-that-all-youve-got.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/02/is-that-all-youve-got.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-2105191044721731144Mon, 11 Feb 2019 15:33:00 +00002019-02-11T10:33:44.785-05:00Attitudes to Avoid, Actions to Adopt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2bFD7lnOeb8/XGGUy1UoliI/AAAAAAAAB2A/Ql0ZC3nFV6EpgqmwCU-i06jPjAUqkDRVgCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_19192177.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1280" height="288" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2bFD7lnOeb8/XGGUy1UoliI/AAAAAAAAB2A/Ql0ZC3nFV6EpgqmwCU-i06jPjAUqkDRVgCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_19192177.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>“Religion begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother.” Kent Hughes explains Cotton Mather’s quote by saying that when a person comes to Christ by faith and is born again, his life is turned upside down. Old bad habits are replaced with new good habits of faith and love and hard work and gratitude. He becomes a better worker and manager of resources as he lives out the Scriptures, which results, often, in economic prosperity. The tragedy is, in many cases, “new prosperity and material wealth devour the same Christianity that gave them birth — especially in the second and third generations.”<br /><br />This is why Paul in Scripture gives a stern warning to all who are “rich in this present age.” By the way, if you are tempted to stop reading because you don’t think you are rich, consider this. The average household income in Alamance County is around $43,000 per year. That income is in the top 1.72% worldwide, which means we are richer than more than 98 percent of the world. What should we do about it? According to Paul there are attitudes to avoid and actions to adopt.<br /><br />Avoid being arrogant. It just goes with the territory that those who have look down on those who don’t have. If you live in a house, you look down on those who live in a trailer. If you live in a trailer on your own land, you look down on those who live in an apartment! And so it goes. But we are commanded in Scripture to put away arrogance and a haughty spirit. After all, “what do we have that we did not receive?”<br /><br />Avoid trusting in uncertain riches. The more we have, the more we have to fight against finding our security, and even our sense of self-worth, in our possessions. This deadly downward spiral never ends well and can only be corrected through repentance and acknowledging God as the owner of everything, including the very breath in our lungs. He alone is worthy of our trust.<br /><br />The actions to adopt begin with this simple command: “do good, be rich in good works.” I knew a dear lady who is with the Lord now, but she used her income and her nice home to show hospitality to people she knew who did not know Christ. She would invite several couples over for dinner and a conversation about things of faith. I know a couple here in town who own several properties that they invite people going through difficult trials to live in for a while, as they teach them to manage their money and their lives in a way that is healthy and productive. You know people like that as well. Are you one of those people who lives on less so that you can help others who have legitimate needs?<br /><br />Paul then says to us we should be “ready to give, willing to share.” It is sad that though Americans have the largest incomes in the world, we also saddle ourselves with the most debt. As Dave Ramsey says with a smile, “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t even like!” Why not put yourself in a position where you are ready to give by getting out of debt as quickly as possible, while at the same time beginning to give to the work of your church, to global missions, and to local needs?<br /><br />Don’t get devoured by your own prosperity. I believe that those who learn to give will one day be met in heaven by the beneficiaries of their giving. That is worth the sacrifice.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/vV81Oni1jcQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/vV81Oni1jcQ/attitudes-to-avoid-actions-to-adopt.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/02/attitudes-to-avoid-actions-to-adopt.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-3338551129034955356Mon, 04 Feb 2019 16:16:00 +00002019-02-04T11:16:42.480-05:00Humility Changes Everything<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jtNjsiONnlg/XFhlEKDtEVI/AAAAAAAAB1s/dw3hIWamDsksJ5tVkqwuzuhZNnHd5GZGQCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_100811621.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1280" height="291" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jtNjsiONnlg/XFhlEKDtEVI/AAAAAAAAB1s/dw3hIWamDsksJ5tVkqwuzuhZNnHd5GZGQCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_100811621.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>A man that looked like he could play defensive end for the Panthers approached me after a meeting two weeks ago in Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova. One of the things I had taught that evening (with my son, Caleb) was how important it is for a man to pray with and for his wife, out loud, often. Even daily. We talked about the privilege and the responsibility a husband has to love his wife, and that includes praying for her. I told a story of how God had humbled me years ago, when Cindy was going through a trial. I knew that it was not enough for me just to pray “in my head” or in private, for her. She needed to actually hear me praying for her more often. She needed me, and God wanted me, to speak Scripture over her as I cried out to God for her. It was humbling and at the same time, it was one of the best days of our marriage when I decided to obey the Lord in this.<br /><br />I told the men that night that I know most Christian husbands do not pray out loud for their wives. Some are afraid they might say the wrong thing. Some are embarrassed to be that vulnerable. Some are too busy. Some just refuse to do it. We reasoned with the men from Scripture about the position we have in the marriage. If we are to be like Christ, who is seated at the right hand of the Father, and is always interceding for his bride, the church, shouldn’t we enter into this ministry as well?<br /><br />This man looked down at me and said, “How can I humble myself? I am too proud to pray for my wife out loud.” He was asking how to humble himself while he was in fact humbling himself! I saw in this man two ways that we walk out humility. First, when we voluntarily confess sin, we are humbling ourselves. It is one thing to “be humbled” when your sin is exposed by someone else. It is quite another to own it, confess it, and turn away from it. Second, when we ask for help, we are humbling ourselves. The man said, “Help me.” He was a man who had heard truth from God’s Word that had produced personal knowledge of the Lord that he had not had before. He was broken over his disobedience and he wanted to do the right thing. Now, true humility was proved out that night if he went home and humbled himself before his wife by asking if he could pray with and for her. Only the Lord and that couple know whether that happened. I believe it did, and that their marriage is stronger now than before.<br /><br />Contrast that example with another listener who approached me after a seminar in the city of Orhei. This woman, a mother and a grandmother, told me through our translator, that she vehemently disagreed with me about training and disciplining children. I reasoned with her from Scripture for several minutes, and got nowhere. Another man who was standing there observing all of this said to me, “There’s no way she will listen to you. She doesn’t listen to anybody.” That would be indictment enough. But after I was pulled away to talk to someone else, this woman continued to bend the ear of the translator. He also pointed her to the Bible. She finally said, as she turned and walked away, “I don’t care what the Bible says.”<br /><br /><div>It is the same in Moldova as in America as in every place on earth. Those who humble themselves before the truth of God’s Word come to a greater place of joy and freedom than they have ever known. Those who walk away from the truth continue stumbling through the darkness.<br /><br />Humility changes everything.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/u-vryFXST1I" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/u-vryFXST1I/humility-changes-everything.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/02/humility-changes-everything.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-5091650349773925362Mon, 28 Jan 2019 15:06:00 +00002019-01-28T10:06:00.309-05:00Looking For a Less Busy Heart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AFBy0Dp8ix8/XE8aHKIuTbI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/FlWLmDRUYxAaAIYANQ-KlpH-2rEgRISpgCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_94320434.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AFBy0Dp8ix8/XE8aHKIuTbI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/FlWLmDRUYxAaAIYANQ-KlpH-2rEgRISpgCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_94320434.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>Let’s say you are looking at the checkbook and there is more month left than money. Been there? You have two weeks to go until your next paycheck, no money, and three bills that have to be paid. What do you do? If you are like most, you start to panic. You immediately go from “heart at rest” to heart palpitations. You start to panic. Then you complain to yourself. “Why is this happening? What am I going to do?” That doesn’t satisfy you at all, so you take the typical next step: you complain to someone else. You get on the phone and ask someone to commiserate with you. Let’s be honest. What you are really doing is asking your friend to enter into unrest with you. Let’s shuck it down even further. You are asking your friend (whom you love?) to enter into unbelief with you.<br /><br />Everybody who has been there, say “Amen.” In fact, if you have been in this place, stuck between a rock and a hard place without a pickaxe, that’s good. Recognize that God puts us there to teach us that He alone is sufficient to meet our needs. That doesn’t mean we can throw money away or live the life of a king on a pauper’s salary. That’s just foolishness that brings its own punishment. But let’s say you are living within your means and the unexpected happens. Suddenly your means are not enough. As the saying goes, “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” This is a great place to trust the Lord.<br /><br />That’s what the psalmist decided to do as he spoke this word to himself: “Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you!” What a wonderful verse to memorize, to speak to yourself during difficult days, and most of all, to believe. Instead of the panicked phone call to a friend, speak to your soul and to God. Charles Spurgeon said, “Whenever a child of God even for a moment loses his peace of mind, he should be concerned to find it again, not by seeking it in the world or in his own experience, but in the Lord alone. When the believer prays, and the Lord inclines His ear, the road to the old rest is before him; let him not be slow to follow it.”<br /><br />Has the Lord dealt bountifully with you? Oh, yes. No matter your circumstances at the moment, the fact that there is breath in your lungs is a gift from God. The fact that you can see to read this column is a gift from God. And if God has brought you to knowledge of the faith and you have trusted Christ alone for your salvation, you are indeed blessed. We can all pray without hypocrisy, “Lord, let my soul return to its rest,” no matter the trouble we may be facing.<br /><br />One final point. Don’t confuse this request with a desire for life to be easy, or stress-free. Let me ask you something. Was Jesus busy? Oh, yes, from before sunup to after sundown, the Lord was working. Was Jesus’ soul always at rest? Oh, yes. In his book, “A Praying Life,” Paul Miller writes, “The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed focus on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy. Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart.”<br /><br />Yes, Lord. That’s what I need.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/5VOVBpwQBmw" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/5VOVBpwQBmw/looking-for-less-busy-heart.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/01/looking-for-less-busy-heart.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-8661697254702704479Tue, 22 Jan 2019 00:03:00 +00002019-01-21T19:03:10.564-05:00This will be on the Final Exam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9h476MH5_U/XEZdnhwga_I/AAAAAAAAB1E/neI4FpT7bBEXBoCe2JxUTT7KPUdM--RyACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_132712067.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9h476MH5_U/XEZdnhwga_I/AAAAAAAAB1E/neI4FpT7bBEXBoCe2JxUTT7KPUdM--RyACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_132712067.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>I heard a former NFL coach say that the most important thing about the scouting combine was that it gave the scouts and coaches an opportunity to look the players in the eye and see what kind of character they have. “Their speed in the 40 is highly overrated,” he said. “What is most important is the interview.” The most important consideration for coaches looking to draft a young player to their team is their character? Maybe that’s because there is so little of it.<br /><br />It is the same in the job market. When two equally skilled people compete for the same job, the person who gives the best interview usually lands it. One professional said there are five red flags for him in an interview, any one of which is a deal-breaker. Even if the candidate is imminently qualified, he won’t get the job if: 1) He talks too much; 2) She doesn’t have a basic understanding of the company; 3) He is not wearing a suit; 4) She begs for the job; 5) He doesn’t know how to communicate why he would be a good fit for the company. I would suggest that each of those ‘flags’ indicate character problems of selfishness, laziness, carelessness, insecurity, and laziness (again)!<br /><br />In the NFL combine or the professional interview, the question is, does the man or woman reflect the resume? The employer is trying to get a look at the heart, the character, the real deal. God does the same.<br /><br />David asked God in Psalm 15, “Lord, who may abide with You? Who is able to stand in Your presence?” He was not asking God how to be saved from his sins. That only comes by grace through faith, which cannot be earned by any man or woman. Christ paid for it on the cross. David was asking how he could know that he belonged to God. “Lord, what is the character of a life that You approve? How can I live in such a way to enjoy the fullness of Your fellowship?”<br /><br />I have a warning for any of you dear readers who might entertain these thoughts: “I don’t care about the ‘fullness of His fellowship.’ I just want to make sure I am in. That when the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there. I want to live my life on my own terms, but I also want to go to heaven when I die.” If that is the attitude of your heart, it calls into question whether you have ever known true repentance. When the Spirit of God comes in, He doesn’t just take up space, He takes over. There is a change in a man’s thought patterns, actions, desires, motives, goals, and affections when he has been born again. Many think they have invited the Lord into their lives but in essence have said to Him, “Stay in this closet in the basement, please, so as not to get in the way with how I want to live my life; when I need You, I will come and get You.” No, regeneration results in “extreme makeover,” and there are dire consequences for all who would pretend. As Charles Spurgeon said, “To own Him in our profession (what we say) and deny Him in our practice (how we live) is, with Judas, to betray Him with a kiss.”<br /><br />Read Psalm 15 and see how your walk, your talk, your values, and how you handle money will stand as evidence of life-change. And yes, Virginia, there is a final exam. All who truly know God will pass.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/mm8vh2SsMlY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/mm8vh2SsMlY/this-will-be-on-final-exam.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/01/this-will-be-on-final-exam.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-5693096506845893014Mon, 14 Jan 2019 16:21:00 +00002019-01-14T11:21:04.165-05:00God Creates Something Where There is Nothing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qavBeWiCUKE/XDy2sto5RdI/AAAAAAAAB0w/m9WSaDj0l8MrS66WfLv5O8N4NkteomgvACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_68304672.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qavBeWiCUKE/XDy2sto5RdI/AAAAAAAAB0w/m9WSaDj0l8MrS66WfLv5O8N4NkteomgvACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_68304672.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>“For He commanded and they were created.” That’s what the Bible plainly teaches. When God spoke, He made something out of nothing. It is an astounding thought that we cannot understand, and in an attempt to “unscrew the inscrutable,” men have resorted to myths and fables and lies. The truth is, God spoke to nothing and that nothing became something. John said in his Gospel, speaking of Jesus Christ who is the agent of creation, “All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made.” That means that everything that was not God was made; in fact, if there was anything co-existent in the universe with God, then it, too, would by its very nature be God. The primordial slime out of which evolving man supposedly crawled would have to be considered a god if it is eternal, if it existed by its own will. Worship the slime or nothing at all, if it is your progenitor. Sadly, many do. The truth remains: God alone is God because he created all things and all things therefore belong to him.<br /><br />“He commanded and they were created” should be an encouragement to all of us as creations of God, because he still does that. He still speaks into existence that which he desires. That’s how we came to Christ in the first place. There was no faith, no life, and no hope; we were dead in our trespasses and sins, rebels against God. Then God spoke. Something came from nothing. That’s what surprised Jonah so much, and made him mad. The Ninevites were the absolute last people on the planet anyone expected to repent. There was nothing in their hearts for God and man, except for hatred. They were brutal and feared by all, and had no regard for human life. Perhaps Jonah did not want to preach to them because he did not think there was any way these brutes could ever be converted. God spoke through Jonah and something came out of nothing. He commanded and they were created. Or re-created. The whole city repented, more than 120,000 people, perhaps the greatest revival in one city the world has ever seen.<br /><br />“He commanded and they were created.” It is the same after we come to Christ as well. That’s what gives me hope to pray for situations where there seems to be no hope. God can call into being something that is not there. Paul said, “God gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” I have spoken to many Dads in the last couple of years who have told me that God spoke to them about their responsibility to disciple their children when there was absolutely no vision for that at all. A man called me from Wichita a few years back and said that he had recently been convicted about needing to have his children with them in church. God led him and his wife to keep their children in the service with them at the mega-church they attended, and that has led to a number of changes. He began to seek the Scriptures about the family and worship and the father’s responsibility. God spoke something into existence in his heart that was not there before. He does it in the hearts of teenagers who are out of control. He does it in failing marriages. He even does it in dying churches. He spoke the worlds into existence. He can certainly change us with a word as well.<br /><br />God speaks to nothing and nothing becomes something. That’s worth rejoicing over.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/Y24uwladVdQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/Y24uwladVdQ/god-creates-something-where-there-is.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/01/god-creates-something-where-there-is.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-4590810696605338683Mon, 07 Jan 2019 14:43:00 +00002019-01-07T10:32:14.816-05:00How Not to Be Hard-Headed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--BpP0_AdZXU/XDNlFNzB6qI/AAAAAAAAB0c/MBTU9IlLUdkM7zdzE0ZSftNNwsqXVbMjQCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_136618945.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--BpP0_AdZXU/XDNlFNzB6qI/AAAAAAAAB0c/MBTU9IlLUdkM7zdzE0ZSftNNwsqXVbMjQCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_136618945.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>Allow me, dear reader, to offer two lessons I learned from my reading or hearing the Word last year. <br /><br />We were studying Luke in our Wednesday night home group, and it was Josh Howard’s turn to teach. He made the point that Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had cast seven demons, was at the cross with Jesus. Then she was at the tomb on Sunday morning to anoint his body, but instead she saw the risen Jesus. Josh told us, “Jesus healed a lot of people. But Mary was there at the end for the Lord.” The thought occurred to me, “If every person who had been healed or delivered of demons or saved by Jesus had come to the cross, there would not have been room for them.” And then I thought, “Why weren’t they there?” Well, the same reason why I am often not ‘there’ for Jesus when he is being persecuted today. I am afraid to speak up, or ashamed to acknowledge, sometimes, that yes, I do believe Jesus is the Son of God. And that I do believe he is our hope for salvation, and that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Paul may have struggled with this sometimes; I’m not sure. But I know he asked the church at Ephesus to pray for him, “that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.” Have you ever put that on your prayer list? Let’s agree to pray that for one another this year. <br /><br /><div>I was reading in Isaiah and saw where God called his people obstinate. He actually said they had iron necks and brass foreheads. Does anybody besides me resemble that remark? I have a hard head and a stiff neck. A hard head is marked by stubbornness, thinking you’re always right, with a very slow trigger on asking for any help thrown in to boot. A stiff neck keeps your hard head right where it is, so you won’t turn your face to the Lord, and to your brothers and sisters. As I pondered that, I wrote down two things I think we can all do to be less hard headed. <br /><br />The first thing is to learn, and really receive, the truth that God loves you with a perfect love. That means he also likes you, and his love and his like is not dependent on you or on your family ’getting it all right.” You say, “I thought people who are hard headed are that way because they are proud of how much God loves them, even thinking God loves them a little bit more than the next guy.” I don’t think so. I think the hardest heads belong to those who do not receive his love or fully embrace his grace. They still think they can earn it through hard work and by keeping their lists of doing all the right things. The truth is, understanding God loves us and likes us frees us to love him more. It also frees us to love our wife or husband more, and to love our children more, regardless of whether they get it all right. The hard-headed way of thinking, “I have to get it all right” is legalism. Legalism will lead to either one of two things. It will produce bound-up, fearful people who simply walk in lockstep to what they believe will make God or others around them happy. Or, it will produce rebels, who eventually throw off all restraints and run headlong into sin. God. Loves. You. Period. Believe it, receive it, and then practice that kind of love with everybody you know. <br /><br />Here’s the second thing. Once the thinking is right, start the practice of admitting when you are not in the right place or the right mind. Not just to yourself and to God. But practice admitting that to a trusted brother or sister in the Lord. Not one of us can do this Christian walk by ourselves. Admitting we need the church is an act of humility, and that takes care of a hard head in short order. </div><div>I hope this will encourage you on your journey through the new year.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/pMt0x4kIdd8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/pMt0x4kIdd8/lessons-from-last-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2019/01/lessons-from-last-year.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-6567351918700941643Mon, 31 Dec 2018 16:50:00 +00002018-12-31T11:50:52.593-05:00Some Thoughts at the Threshold<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LGNFy7TQo_I/XCpIhE_vlJI/AAAAAAAAB0I/y7ANfNBRLZwYJsmOHtN_oE3DCEYJ9-nTgCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_233354003.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LGNFy7TQo_I/XCpIhE_vlJI/AAAAAAAAB0I/y7ANfNBRLZwYJsmOHtN_oE3DCEYJ9-nTgCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_233354003.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>We are standing just outside the door into 2019. Here are some thoughts that are bouncing around in my head as we enter a new year.<br /><br />Since when do we need to “make the Bible relevant?” I hear those war-drums banged by hipster pastors those in trendy churches, and I just don’t get it. Either the Bible is true, or it’s not. If it is true, then “salvation comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” not by entertainment or cultural relevancy or even by storytelling. You cannot “make” the Bible relevant. It is or it isn’t. If you believe the Bible is relevant, preach it.<br /><br />Someone sent this to me from a church in another state: “We do not allow children between the ages of three months and fifth grade in the adult worship service.” Note: It is not a preference there, it is the law! The message went on to explain that adults will “worship better” without distractions. Two questions: when did training our children to worship with us become a distraction? I thought it was a privilege and a responsibility. Secondly, when did “personal comfort” become our highest goal at church?<br /><br />Since we are on the subject of our children, let me encourage you Dads to hug your children every day. Tell your daughters and especially your sons, that you are proud of them. Their souls will bear that imprint throughout their lives.<br /><br />If you are having trouble with boomerang children, you might laugh (or cry) when you hear Paul Shanklin’s classic song from a few years back, “Can’t Fit the Cradle.” It is set to the tune of the classic Harry Chapin song, but the chorus goes, “Well, he can’t fit the cradle and he sleeps ’til noon. The boy’s 42 and he don’t have a clue. When you gonna leave son?” ‘I don’t know when. We’ll have a good time til then, Dad, we’ll have a good time til then.’” At the end of the song, the boy finally gets married again and moves out. The dad sings, “And as they drove away, it occurred to me, the boy had a front door key, yeah, he still had a front door key!”<div><br />Speaking of keys, get a copy of Rosaria Butterfield’s book, “The Gospel Comes With a House Key.” If you don’t know anything about Butterfield, you should Google her and read how she came to Christ as a radical feminist English professor at Syracuse University. Or read her first book, “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert.” Her latest book is an invitation to ordinary Christians like you and me to practice what she calls “radical, ordinary hospitality.” It challenges us to be more intentional about opening our home, our dinner table, our hearts, and our lives to those around us.<br /><br />As we take the next few steps into a new year, let me remind you that actions can become habits. Habits shape character. Character helps determine destiny. Put some actions into play this year with these four “starts.” Start reading the Bible. Start going to church. With over 400 in the county to choose from, there is no excuse. Find one that still believes the Bible and darken their door every week. Start eating dinner together as a family. And start telling people in your life that you love them. Why wait until you’re on a ventilator and they won’t believe you then, anyway?</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/VLbNVeF62uM" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/VLbNVeF62uM/some-thoughts-at-threshold.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/12/some-thoughts-at-threshold.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-8278569355996019765Mon, 24 Dec 2018 17:18:00 +00002018-12-24T12:18:23.501-05:00When Great Fear Turned to Greater Joy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Iax1TcCPZXU/XCEUo2ZdAuI/AAAAAAAABzs/2f7DG3XD6tEAbneQqHRpbn-BUMxyV58NACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_184221555.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="1280" height="253" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Iax1TcCPZXU/XCEUo2ZdAuI/AAAAAAAABzs/2f7DG3XD6tEAbneQqHRpbn-BUMxyV58NACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_184221555.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>Dave Barry wrote several years ago about the increase of political correctness we find in our culture surrounding Christmas: “To avoid offending anybody, the schools dropped religion altogether and started singing about the weather. At my son’s school, they now hold the winter program in February and sing increasingly non-memorable songs such as ‘Winter Wonderland,’ ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and, this is a real song, ‘Suzy Snowflake,’ all of which is pretty funny because we live in Miami. A visitor from another planet would assume that the children belonged to the Church of Meteorology.” I don’t know about “Suzy Snowflake,” but I do know that when angels appeared 2,000 years ago to poor shepherds on a Judean hillside, they weren’t there to talk about the weather.<br /><br />Luke tells us that the shepherds were outside, watching their sheep, and an angel appeared to them. Let me ask you: what would you do if an angel showed up at your workplace? I am not talking about your wife, men, though I don’t doubt that she is angelic. No, this was an angel from heaven, not a redeemed sinner from earth. The shepherds went from calm to terrified in an instant. The Bible says they were “greatly afraid.” JB Phillips translates it, “terror-stricken.”<br /><br />Luke was a historian, and was not given to exaggeration. If anything, he understated the case. The shepherds were terrified and part of the reason was that the angel just appeared, out of nowhere, without warning. Perhaps that’s why the same angel said, “Do not be afraid,” nearly every time he showed up.<br /><br />God turns the great fear of the shepherds into the greater joy of the shepherds. How? How do you go from fear to joy? By hearing and believing good news. Think of a person waiting for the doctor to come in with the test results. He has been diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer. Now the surgery and the treatments have been done, and test results will reveal the truth. The patient is filled with fear as he waits to hear from the doctor. He goes from great fear to greater joy instantly when he hears the good news: “Your cancer is gone.” The angel says, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy...for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”<br /><br />Heaven has come down; God’s glory has come to earth. Great fear has been replaced by greater joy because of the greatest news the world has ever heard. The bad news for healed cancer patients is that they are still going to die. The good news for redeemed sinners is that though we die, we will live again because of the news the angels proclaimed on a Judean hillside two millennia ago. Are you looking for joy this Christmas? Then believe and receive the good news.<br /><br />You can sing about the weather for the next few days if you like. Since God is the weatherman, only he can “let it snow.” I would rather join in the angels’ song, translated by Charles Wesley this way: “Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled! Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies; With the angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem! Hark, the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King.”<br /><br />May you have a merry and joyous Christmas!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/GprTg5yt7qs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/GprTg5yt7qs/when-great-fear-turned-to-greater-joy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/12/when-great-fear-turned-to-greater-joy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-8838926933959469988Mon, 17 Dec 2018 18:09:00 +00002018-12-17T13:09:43.378-05:00Pass the Pecan Pie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MyCmmLUj4eg/XBfmLjuOgbI/AAAAAAAABzY/jKTeym8CXzIdMiRtmQ6U9qRv3yHGDmCNACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_26377755.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MyCmmLUj4eg/XBfmLjuOgbI/AAAAAAAABzY/jKTeym8CXzIdMiRtmQ6U9qRv3yHGDmCNACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_26377755.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>During this time of the year, when my favorite foods are so plentiful, I can go on a sweet-eating binge as fast as you can say “homemade fudge.” Which brings up the question I ask my wife every year: “Why do we need to make fudge?”<br /><br />“It is a Christmas tradition,” she says. To which I reply, “So is gaining five pounds. Some traditions we could do without.”<br /><br />We have lots of things we like to do around Christmas, just like you. We read through the Christmas story, starting Dec. 1, and follow the story of the Messiah’s birth as it was foretold centuries before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We participate in Operation Christmas Child. More than the socks, toys, and candy, a local church delivers each shoebox gift, and the pastor there will share the Gospel message that God sent Jesus “that the world through Him might be saved.”<br /><br />We sing Christmas carols to neighbors or to shut-ins from our church, and sometimes take them a basket filled with goodies. We write a Christmas letter. On the night we decorate the Christmas tree, we make cookies, watch “The Christmas Carol,” or my new favorite Christmas movie, “The Nativity Story.” On that night, the kids (and their kids) sleep with the tree. Ma in her kerchief and I in my cap … do not.<br /><br />On Christmas morning, we gather in the living room and read Luke 2 together, sing a Christmas carol, and pray. Then after breakfast, we gather again in the living room to open presents. The iPhone cameras are rolling, the kids and grandkids are at the top of their game with funny comments, and the love that we share as a family is sweeter than the chocolate chip pie from Christmas Eve dinner.<br /><br />Which brings me back around to eating too much during the holidays. I will exercise more this month in an effort to fight back, but in a way that’s like building a hospital at the bottom of a mountain instead of adding guardrails at the top. I need to send my will to the gym. The truth is, many of us simply have weak wills that need to be trained, not just for portion control at the table but for every other area of our lives. Our minds are quite capable, and we know much more than we have ever lived out. Our emotions are fully operational and ready to take over at a moment’s notice, and for many of us, lead the whole time. But our wills are puny, malnourished, 90-pound weaklings. That is why I can stand in front of the dessert table and have this conversation.<br /><br />My mind: “I just ate four thousand calories. I don’t need dessert.” My emotions: “Oh, good grief, it is once a year. Besides, take a look at that pecan pie.” My will: “Uh…umm…well…”<br /><br />You get the picture. My will can be an absolute wimp, which is why I need to develop it. Here are some tips from a book written by Helen Andelin in the 1960’s. She gives three steps to take every day to help in training our wills, which I have adapted:<br /><br />Do something unpleasant — take a cold shower, exercise, or eat health food you don’t like.<br /><br />Do something difficult — do a hard job, stick to your diet, work on a difficult goal.<br /><br />Demand quotas of yourself — get up at 4:30, get a specific job done at a given time, put your finances on a budget, read a book every month, have exercise goals.<br /><br /><div>I need this advice, and maybe some of you do as well. Merry Christmas, and pass (up?) the pecan pie.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/LXk4OqU7Ey8" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/LXk4OqU7Ey8/pass-pecan-pie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/12/pass-pecan-pie.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-1478085657058155918Wed, 12 Dec 2018 14:51:00 +00002018-12-12T09:51:38.520-05:00Christmas Existed Before the World was Created<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSnqhQ4gBEI/XBEgECjVrfI/AAAAAAAABzE/e0SHG1IeUAIohs1ixMGJPPljqg5WXtU1ACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_69303447.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSnqhQ4gBEI/XBEgECjVrfI/AAAAAAAABzE/e0SHG1IeUAIohs1ixMGJPPljqg5WXtU1ACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_69303447.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>When I was little, around this time of year, I would be almost beside myself with anticipation. I could not wait for the day to finally arrive. You know which one I’m talking about. My brothers and I would try to be on our best behavior, for one month out of the year, at least, because the day was coming. We didn’t want to lose out on anything that might be under the tree or in our stocking on the day. So we kept our rooms clean. Kind of. I mean, Mom was happy as long as she didn’t open my closet door. You know, my skateboard, which I stuffed in the closet last, could fall from the top shelf right onto her head.<br /><br />But we cleaned a little, and we even asked Mom if she needed help with cleaning the kitchen as she prepared for the big day. We were like little angels, my brothers and I. We would even strike up a peace accord during the month, and agree not to shoot our BB guns at each other, until after the day. There was nothing more important than the day, and that’s why, on the Eve of the Day, for one night, we three brothers would sleep in the same bed. It got to be pretty cumbersome when we were 17, 15, and 11. But it was worth it, for Christmas.<br /><br />Which leads me to a question: When did Christmas begin? Was it sometime around 4 B.C., in the dusty little town of Bethlehem? Or did Christmas emerge from a pagan holiday in Rome in the first century? Maybe Christmas was created when Nicholas was a bishop in Turkey in the 4th century. Perhaps Christmas doesn’t exist at all, and we should resign ourselves to wishing each other the more benign “Happy Holidays.” One note of irony is that even the word, “holiday” is a contracted form of “holy day.” The next time the clerk wishes you one, with a smile thank him or her for helping you keep this season holy.<br /><br /><div>The truth is, Christmas did not begin in a manger in Bethlehem, but long before that. In fact, Christmas had no beginning. It always was. If we define Christmas as the coming of the Messiah, the incarnation of the Christ, the time when God took on human flesh and dwelt among us for a while, then there was never a time in history that Christmas did not exist. At least, not in the mind of God. In fact, even before time existed, Christmas was. You could go back one hundred million years before the birth of Christ, and Christmas was there.<br /><br />How do we know that? Because the Bible speaks plainly on the subject. Peter wrote of Jesus, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for you who through him believe in God.” In other words, it was in God’s mind to send Jesus to the earth long before God ever formed the world. He knew we would need a Savior, and there was only one available.<br /><br />Remember, love is an action, a commitment of the will that results in one sacrificing for another. The Bible says that Jesus is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Do you want to know what God gave you for Christmas? Before the world was ever spoken into existence, God gave His son, Jesus, to die for you and for me. What else can He do for you? And how do we respond to such a gift? The songwriter said it this way:<br /><br />What then can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb, If I were a wise man, I would do my part. What then can I give Him? I must give my heart.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/KDnWT0bJQZQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/KDnWT0bJQZQ/christmas-existed-before-world-was.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/12/christmas-existed-before-world-was.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-4410467852936160842Mon, 03 Dec 2018 19:10:00 +00002018-12-03T14:10:50.793-05:00Lead the Life the Lord Assigns<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fGcwPRSYJRE/XAV_lghSwTI/AAAAAAAAByw/4APRDqcOmSsrc3rMScnS7j9bXdeCf_AngCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_101653249.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="1280" height="214" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fGcwPRSYJRE/XAV_lghSwTI/AAAAAAAAByw/4APRDqcOmSsrc3rMScnS7j9bXdeCf_AngCLcBGAs/s640/AdobeStock_101653249.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>The greatest single life event that has ever happened to anyone is when Christ gives the gift of faith, and the grace of God changes a man or woman from darkness to light, from dead to alive, from lost to saved. But what are we to do, then? How do we respond to this personal life-quake that rearranges everything in our hearts, and turns everything in our minds right-side up for the first time? Here’s one thing we should not do. I heard about a college coach years ago that got saved. Great! So he decided to buy a boat, leave his wife, and sail around the world, telling people about Jesus. Not great. That’s called zeal without knowledge, friends. It’s also called disobedience, not just for the obvious fact that he left his wife, but that he left the place where he was when he became a follower of Jesus. New converts often feel like the only way they can serve God is to become an evangelist, a pastor, or a career missionary. But Jesus calls people in all kinds of vocations, and he uses those whom he has called in those same places. That means of course that we are called to be Christian fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, singles, sons, and daughters. It also means that we are called to be Christian students, or homemakers, Christian business owners or teachers, Christian truckers or carpenters. <br /><br />What does the Bible say? “Let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him.” Literally, “walk in the way” the Lord has assigned. Christians have two vocations, if you will. We are, as Martin Luther liked to say, “genuinely bi-vocational.” The first calling is vertical, a relationship with Christ. It is paramount, and it nourishes and sustains the second. The second calling is horizontal, the vocational calling to manage our time and resources and abilities to the glory of God in a place of work. Both are necessary, and both are God-given. But, here’s an important truth: You and I do not receive our identity from what we do, but from who we belong to. Christ. That means that you are a Christian realtor, a Christian homemaker, a Christian brick mason, not a realtor or homemaker or brick mason who happens to be a Christian.<br /><br />That also means your work is not meant to provide ultimate fulfillment. God gave Adam work, but it wasn’t the garden that was Adam’s treasure; God was. It was those long walks in the cool of the evening with the Lord that defined who Adam was, even as he worked to tend and to keep the garden that had been assigned to him. What happens when we flip that on its head, so that we see our job as our identity, and therefore the ultimate source of our fulfillment? We get off the rails, because we put the vertical relationship in second place. We look to our jobs, our income, our position in the company, or our status in society to fulfill us. It cannot do it, so we get frustrated. We flounder. We become anxious, or depressed. We end up hating our job, or going from one job to another. Perhaps that helps explain recent data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that 91% of millennials stay in a job less than 3 years, and will have 15-20 jobs over the course of their working lives. Of course, they are not much different from many Boomer parents who also lived for their jobs.<br /><br />What is the answer? Lead the life the Lord has assigned to you. Make knowing him your first calling, and your most important job. Then, commit yourself to being the very best at your second vocation, for his glory.<br /><br /> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/L7QufaIwOFs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/L7QufaIwOFs/lead-life-lord-assigns.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/12/lead-life-lord-assigns.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-1647250328097121600Mon, 26 Nov 2018 18:45:00 +00002018-11-26T13:45:21.179-05:00What God has Joined Together<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yz6oGLHPbmA/W_w_LXqeIpI/AAAAAAAAByc/uAAxg631WfIau6eakWUio0dBFJGhpdFKACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_199153754.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yz6oGLHPbmA/W_w_LXqeIpI/AAAAAAAAByc/uAAxg631WfIau6eakWUio0dBFJGhpdFKACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_199153754.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>We have all been to a wedding, at least one if we are married. We have seen a bride almost faint or fall right out because she locked her knees. We have seen the groom struggle to get the ring on the bride’s finger, or the other way around. We have sat in the freezing cold or the sweltering heat. In our wedding, Cindy and I knelt on a kneeling bench to take communion together as our first act as a married couple, and when I stood, the knees of my tuxedo pants were pasty white from the talcum powder that my groomsmen had so helpfully put on the bench.<br /><br />We all have stories about weddings. But at the end of the day, as long as both bride and groom showed up and made vows to one another in the presence of God and those who witnessed the event, at the end of the day they are … married. No longer single. The two had become one. In this biblical math that refers to marriage, one plus one equals one. God said it in the creation account of the first marriage, “A man shall leave his father and mother, hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” It is a profound mystery, isn’t it? That God would join a man and a woman together and transform not only their lives, but the lives of their children, and the lives of those in the church and community where those two put Christ’s love affair with his church on display.<br /><br />Though the mystery is profound, it is not always permanent. It is always two sinners who marry, and even though they may be saved by grace, not only husband and wife in this life but brother and sister for all eternity, marriage is difficult. I believe it is at the same time the hardest and the most glorious thing we do this side of heaven: to stay married to the same person for a lifetime. I also understand that there are times when it is good to separate, as in the case of abuse or other dangerous circumstances. The exceptions do not change the norm, however, which is to stay together.<br /><br />Jesus repeated the founding principle for marriage in Matthew 19, and added, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Paul repeated the same principle at least twice. What’s the point? The biblical foundation for marriage between one man and one woman for life could not be clearer than it already is.<br /><br />Have you ever seen a video review of a play on an NFL game? The catch was called a touchdown, but the opposing coach throws a challenge flag because he thinks the receiver stepped one toe out of bounds as he raced for the end zone. You see the replay 50 times, and there is no question that the receiver was in bounds. So the referee finally says, “After further review, the calling on the field is confirmed.” That’s what the Bible says about marriage for a lifetime. God said it more than once. Jesus said it more than once. Paul said it more than once. After further review, the calling on marriage is confirmed: what God has joined together, let not man separate.<br /><br /><div>May I suggest to you what you already know if you are married? Divorce should not be an option, should never be discussed, or threatened, or hinted at, or even thought about. My wife of 36 years told me recently that she determined early on not to allow herself to ever even think about separation or divorce. That’s what I call, “taking every thought captive to obey Christ.”<br /><br />If you are ready to throw in the towel, it’s too early to quit. Get help from biblical counselors. Cry out to God. Speak and do what communicates love to your spouse.<br /><br />Marriage is hard. But it is worth the fight to stay together.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/Y0pqNC72P0M" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/Y0pqNC72P0M/what-god-has-joined-together.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/11/what-god-has-joined-together.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-2525326182752499450Mon, 19 Nov 2018 19:42:00 +00002018-11-19T14:42:58.394-05:00Singleness is a Gift<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dV-QhQzgD64/W_MSJgdUHTI/AAAAAAAAByI/qoBJF2atnqgXNjpPYDKhq294_PZxGpmpACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_19332766.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dV-QhQzgD64/W_MSJgdUHTI/AAAAAAAAByI/qoBJF2atnqgXNjpPYDKhq294_PZxGpmpACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_19332766.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>God calls everyone to singleness for a season, and some to singleness for a lifetime. In either case, singleness is not a mistake or an aberration, and single Christians are not second-class! Vaughn Roberts writes, “A friend of mine once belonged to a young adult church group called ‘Pairs and Spares.’ Single people can be made to feel like spare parts in their families, social groups, and churches. One man was so fed up with being asked ‘Are you still single?’ that he began to respond, ‘Are you still married?’”<br /><br /><div>Singleness is a gift from God. That’s what the Bible teaches, and you can see it for yourself in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. However, singleness can only be received by those to whom it has been given. Many do not have that gift, but remain single because God has simply not provided a mate for them yet. That begs the question, what about those who are choosing to remain single, for reasons that are not good? Marriage is defiled in the minds of many by Hollywood, the media, and fairy tales. Some cannot find the “perfect mate,” so they keep playing the field. Not to mention that they are nowhere near the “perfect mate” themselves, for that person does not exist. Tim Keller writes, “There are two factors for having this so-called new idealism. The first is physical attractiveness and sexual chemistry. In other words, the other person (you would marry) has to be extremely physically attractive. Secondly, compatibility. Compatibility means ‘you want someone who has the willingness to take you in as you are and not change you.’” That sounds like narcissism, not a desire for compatibility.<br /><br />Another unbiblical reason for staying single is simply because you don’t want to be bothered. You cherish independence more than anything in life, and simply do not want the hassle of accommodating another person who might, God forbid, interfere with the way you live to please yourself. By the way, that happens too often in marriage. A woman said to her husband, “Bob, the problem in this marriage is that both of us are in love with the same man.” In order to be the single or married person God has called you to be, you have to lay down your independence altogether.<br /></div><div>The single man or woman is in the unique position to only be concerned with how to please the Lord. And those folks are greatly used by God. I think of John Stott, single his whole life, pastoring and writing books that shaped the Christian landscape until his death in 2011, at 90. His message and ministry still speak. I think of Gladys Aylward, tiny little lady, never married, who served as a missionary to China in the 1900’s. She shared the Gospel with untold thousands, rescued orphans during the Japanese invasion, and traveled the country to let women know that the barbaric practice of foot-binding was no longer the law of the land.<br /><br />Singleness requires self-control. Those with the gift of singleness are not extra-terrestrials who have no desire for physical intimacy. They have been given a different gift from God, and with that, abundant grace to be able to live celibate lives. Paul adds that those who cannot exercise self-control, should marry.<br /><br />Finally, John Piper has this encouragement to single Christians: “As long as you are single, this is your calling: to so live for Christ as to make it clearer to the world and to the church: That the family of God grows not by propagation through sexual intercourse, but by regeneration through faith in Christ; that relationships in Christ are more permanent, and more precious, than relationships in families; that marriage is temporary, and finally gives way to the relationship to which it was pointing all along: Christ and the church — the way a picture is no longer needed when you see face to face; and that faithfulness to Christ defines the value of life; all other relationships get their final significance from this. No family relationship is ultimate; relationship to Christ is.”</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/PLllPoC1nl0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/PLllPoC1nl0/singleness-is-gift.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/11/singleness-is-gift.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-7685290581234984761Mon, 12 Nov 2018 20:45:00 +00002018-11-12T15:45:14.979-05:00Marriage is for Givers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y36usCWYVdE/W-nmCCgd8VI/AAAAAAAABx0/hRmh7R37U00WDg-nw_ONCbvCcZfsjSJVgCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_182645669.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y36usCWYVdE/W-nmCCgd8VI/AAAAAAAABx0/hRmh7R37U00WDg-nw_ONCbvCcZfsjSJVgCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_182645669.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>Some church people were reacting to the stain of sexual immorality that saturated the culture by saying, “Ok, that’s it. Sex is bad, so we will abstain from it in marriage.” In other words, in order to avoid the ditch of licentiousness, they ran into the ditch of ascetism, which is severe self-discipline to the point that you deny yourself any self-indulgence. But, dear readers, sex is not bad. People are bad. Sex in marriage is a good and holy creation of God. Sex is not just a good idea in marriage, it is required for a healthy marriage. That’s why Paul responded to them with this: “each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.” In that one sentence, he said no to polygamy, yes to monogamy, yes to healthy sexual relations in the marriage, and no to the Shakers, who must have been distant descendants from some of these ascetics. The Shakers were founded in the 18th century, and were also known as the Shaking Quakers, because of their ecstatic behavior during worship. Very early on, women assumed the leadership roles in the group, and one of the tenets of their faith was that everyone, married or not, must practice celibacy. As a result, they slowly died off because, well, no sex equals no children.<br /><br /><div>Paul continued his instruction to married couples with this encouragement: “The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband.” The operative word in that sentence is “give.” The husband should give and the wife should give, even though each has been given authority by God over the other’s body in marriage. The key is giving of yourself, not taking what is yours. If you just focus on the word “rights,” you will get all twisted up and turned inward. You start thinking about your rights and your desires and your needs and your feelings, instead of how to give to your spouse. What makes a marriage work? It is not a demand for rights that brings a blessing, but two people with a heart to give to one another. It is there that God commands His blessing. I can hear someone say, “I just don’t feel like giving myself to my wife, or to my husband!” C.S. Lewis wrote this: “Though natural likings should normally be encouraged, it would be quite wrong to think that the way to become charitable is to sit trying to manufacture affectionate feelings…The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will probably come to love him.” In other words, if God has told you to give to your spouse, don’t wait until you feel like it. Act yourself into a way of feeling.<br /><br />One thing we know for certain, that it is rare that both in the marriage have the same level of interest and passion about intimacy, or the same comfort level. And we know that the level of interest and passion changes over time for husband and wife, but often at different times. Tony Reinke says, “Both have authority, but what do you do if the desires or how they call the shots are not the same? Any simple formula will not fit reality, and Paul knew he was dealing with complex, emotional moments. In a Christian marriage, where the couple is growing in grace, they will figure this out. (As the Bible says), ‘Outdo one another in showing honor.’”<br /><br />Finally, I know this is a complex and difficult area for many. What if there is brokenness in the marriage or in the past of one or both partners? In her book, “Rethinking Sexuality,” Juli Slattery writes this: “How to move forward: Tell the truth about your experiences, past and present. All progress begins with telling the truth. Pursue God’s truth. Apply God’s wisdom. Use a biblical counselor if needed. Don’t put it off.”<br /><br />Mostly, become a giver.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/sB2c_8GJbJI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/sB2c_8GJbJI/marriage-is-for-givers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/11/marriage-is-for-givers.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-6696837160254877231Mon, 05 Nov 2018 18:32:00 +00002018-11-05T13:32:32.964-05:00Cedars, Palms, and You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OxdUS5Pne78/W-CI1PEgADI/AAAAAAAABxg/__k49MTPOD8lqMzH0NwmD-DmiN0u9kqxgCLcBGAs/s1600/Palm%2Btree.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OxdUS5Pne78/W-CI1PEgADI/AAAAAAAABxg/__k49MTPOD8lqMzH0NwmD-DmiN0u9kqxgCLcBGAs/s400/Palm%2Btree.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>I noticed a few days ago that there was huge hole in my backyard where a tree used to be, a sugar maple that we bought and planted this week. Then on my way to work, I saw the tree in my neighbor’s yard! There it was, and you could see from the fresh dirt that it had just been planted. Or…transplanted. On my way home from work that night, I saw the tree again, on the side of the road, making its way slowly to another neighbor’s yard. It kind of threw a wooden look at me as I slowly drove past, like, “Yeah? Do you have a problem if I want to try a different place?” I just shook my head and drove on, watching this tree struggle to drag itself down the street, leaves falling off, roots dragging behind … it was a pitiful sight.<br /><br />By now you know I am pulling your collective branches ... er … legs, right? Of course the tree didn’t uproot itself and move to another place. Trees have this very consistent habit of staying where they are planted. That’s a constant in the universe: where you plant a tree is where it will grow. In fact, the quickest way to kill a tree, or to at least hinder its growth and fruitfulness, is to transplant it. Trees grow best in their natural habitat.<br /><br />Christians do, too, and a Christian’s natural habitat is the house of God. That’s where we grow the best, in fact that is where we flourish. Psalm 92:13: “They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.” Then the Psalmist says, “They still bear fruit in old age.” I like that part.<br /><br /><div>Sadly, Christians are too often like that rogue tree I was telling you about. They move from place to place, never taking root downward to grow upward, never really getting established anywhere so they can truly be used by God to do what Christians are created by God to do. Read Psalm 92 and see how the believer is compared to two specific kinds of trees, the palm tree and the cedar. Palms flourish and cedars grow.<br /><br />Palms are extremely durable during storms because of their spongy wood; they will bend during a hurricane and not break. That’s a picture of the followers of Christ. They endure. They are still standing after the storm. Besides endurance, palms also represent refreshment and rest. People love to be near palm trees, don’t they? They travel miles to sit under them, soaking up the warm sun beside the blue ocean. Christians are like palm trees, the Bible says. Refreshing. Drawing others to them. Inviting and gracious. Paul commended a man by the name of Onesiphorus for being a brother who refreshed him, for taking initiative to find ways to serve others.<br /><br />Cedars grow in four ways, just like Christians. They grow downward, sending roots deep into the soil for nourishment and stability. They grow upward. Cedars in Lebanon can grow to more than 130 feet at elevations of over 6,000 feet, literally piercing the clouds, reaching for heaven. They grow outward, spreading their huge branches more than 30 feet from the trunk, providing shade and shelter. They grow onward, some cedars living hundreds of years.<br /></div><div>Here’s what we can take from Psalm 92, then. Settle in a good church and grow there. Send roots deep into Christ and into his Word. Reach for things above, not the temporal stuff of life. Reach others with your life and message. Enjoy the assurance that your life will bear good fruit that remains long after you are gone.<br /><br />And if you see one of my trees on the road, send it home.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/TM6oAtEhtNs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/TM6oAtEhtNs/cedars-palms-and-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/11/cedars-palms-and-you.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-4249558842568973236Mon, 29 Oct 2018 16:58:00 +00002018-10-29T12:58:21.640-04:00What Does God Think About Sex?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-muBBgBFOrII/W9c74rwEFnI/AAAAAAAABxM/tvPQl-gclekVS8hIS1BK-GrPlyvdgM5sACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_144687767.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-muBBgBFOrII/W9c74rwEFnI/AAAAAAAABxM/tvPQl-gclekVS8hIS1BK-GrPlyvdgM5sACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_144687767.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>Sexual immorality is constantly in the headlines these days, but there is nothing new under the sun. Ever since the first man and woman chose to believe the enemy of their souls instead of their Creator, and sin entered the world, sexual immorality has been in the news. Read the Bible, one of the most explicit books about sex on the market. Be careful! You may be shocked at the honesty of the book on this topic. Beware! You also may be changed by what you read, as the Lord uses the words of his story to turn people’s lives upside down. Or, right-side up, actually.<br /><br />Paul says it as plainly as possible in his first letter to the Corinthian church: “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” God created the human body not for illicit pleasure but for his glory. He adds to this by saying, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” Do you see the implications of believing that this one body we have been given is actually not ours to begin with? That it belongs to God and its use is for God and for his glory? The price he paid to be able to ask that of us was the life of his own son on a cross.<br /><br />Sex was God’s idea, and he created it for husbands and wives to enjoy, but ultimately for his glory. Do you remember the marriage covenant God created and spoke into existence in the garden? “A man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” Paul repeated that amazing promise and said, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying it refers to Christ and the church.” This explains the greatest purpose for sexual intimacy. Sexual intimacy with a covenant-spouse gives us a greater understanding of the covenant-making and covenant-keeping love that God has for us. We have been joined with Christ through the covenant he initiated through the shedding of his own blood. That’s why Paul asks, “Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?” And that’s why Paul answers his own question: “Never!” It is unthinkable for we who are Christ’s to become one flesh with a prostitute, or with anyone to whom we are not married. This is also why the use of pornography perverts God’s creation of sexual union between a husband and a wife.<br /><br />Pornography is not a victimless sin. You do damage to yourself, and to your present or future wife and family, when you give yourself to such selfish behavior. Here are the latest stats about its insidious use. 79% of men between the ages of 18 and 30 view pornography at least monthly, and 67% of men between the ages of 31 and 49 view pornography at least monthly. One half of men between 50 and 68 look at porn monthly. And it’s not just men! 60% of females between the ages of 18 and 30 look at pornography at least monthly.<br /><br />What are we to do? Flee from sexual immorality! This is a one-step program. Are you tempted? Flee. That is exactly what Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife invited him into her bed-chamber. He literally ran out of the house, leaving the garment behind that she was holding onto when he bolted. The Bible never tells us to resist lust. We cannot do that. Flee. Don’t stay. Leave. Run. Some people are proud of that 0.0 sticker on their vehicle, boasting that they never run to or from anything. How many would say the same about sexual sin, and admit that they never run from that, either?<br /><br />Sex in the marriage bed is a wonderful gift of God, but for many, it has been damaged by sin. If you are caught in sin, you do not have to stay there. Cry out to God for help. Seek the biblical counsel of a godly man or woman. Get free. Do it for your spouse, for yourself, and for the Lord<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/p7DGVkNar7g" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/p7DGVkNar7g/what-does-god-think-about-sex.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/10/what-does-god-think-about-sex.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-5845879211781824948Mon, 22 Oct 2018 18:08:00 +00002018-10-22T14:08:20.529-04:00A Society Addicted to Distraction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SOfgQg39ExE/W84PuQJFBcI/AAAAAAAABw4/TMzd0TyDswAh0SCVQylkFHQFr8mdrSWoACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_166255748.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SOfgQg39ExE/W84PuQJFBcI/AAAAAAAABw4/TMzd0TyDswAh0SCVQylkFHQFr8mdrSWoACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_166255748.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>I find myself wondering these days what my students did in 1990 to distract themselves. That’s when I started teaching communication classes to college students, and I don’t remember any of them having cellphones back then. Or laptops, iPads and iPods. Maybe they secretly played Bon Jovi or Prince in their Walkman, one earplug in and eyes intent on me as I lectured. Some of them doodled; that’s still popular today. Some would open the school newspaper on the desk and try to read an article on the sly. A few might have tried to fall asleep, until I saw them and rudely interrupted their naptime. What I don’t remember is a student intently staring at his lap, checking his Twitter feed, his Instagram likes or his Snapchat streaks. Some are pretty good at it, and I can tell they have worked hard to master their cloaked habit. Others are about as subtle as a Trump tweet, and they just lock and load on their lap-phones, sometimes even laughing softly to themselves at something they are reading. That’s when I remind my students that I was born at night, but not last night, and would they please put their phones away?<br /><br />A few weeks ago I noticed a student intently staring at his watch. Then he started poking at the face of it with his forefinger. This went on for several minutes, with regular pauses. I assumed he was too tired to finish the text and needed breaks in between sentences. Bless his heart. Actually, when I first saw this, it didn’t dawn on me what the student was doing. I don’t have an Apple Watch or its clone, so my orientation is not to think “texting” when I think of my watch. When I realized what was going on, I politely asked him to crush his watch under the leg of his chair. Not really, but I did tell him to take it off and put it away. First time ever!<br /><br />Look, this is not an old-man rant about modern technology. I am not yelling at anyone to get off my lawn. I am just as guilty as the next guy at allowing my smartphone to control my day, if I am not careful. Even my watch has gotten into the act. I have a Garmin watch that I bought because it has a GPS in it and is helpful for tracking my running. It also talks to my phone, and they have developed quite a close relationship. This summer a pastor in Berlin was introducing me as I sat on the second pew with Cindy, preparing to go up and preach. Suddenly, to my horror, my watch told my phone to start playing music. It didn’t matter that my phone was muted, apparently, because loud strains of “Winter Wonderland” by James Taylor began to compete with the pastor’s introduction of the idiot in the second pew. Cindy and I struggled to turn it off and I was finally forced to crush it under the leg of the pew. Not really, but I walked to the pulpit with a red face and apologized to the multinational congregation about my faux pas.<br /><br />I don’t have all the answers to our addiction to distraction these days. The research is startling, and you may have read George Will’s column last Tuesday in this paper. He quoted extensively from Sen. Ben Sasse’s new book about the epidemic of loneliness as a health crisis in our nation. Will wrote, “In the last quarter of the 20th century, the average number of times Americans entertained at home declined almost 50 percent. Americans are hyperconnected but disconnected, with ‘fewer non-virtual friends than at any point in decades.’”<br /><br />One answer may be to reconnect to a healthy community. Find a good church and don’t just sit in a pew; get involved in the community. You may also need to put away the phone and go retro.<br /><br />Speaking of which, does anyone have a Walkman I could borrow? I think I can find my old cassette tapes in the attic.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/3I5YM4Uod5s" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/3I5YM4Uod5s/a-society-addicted-to-distraction.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/10/a-society-addicted-to-distraction.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-4940863953596003570Tue, 16 Oct 2018 02:35:00 +00002018-10-15T22:35:52.310-04:00One Town You Ought to Visit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--sEDNDTmDjo/W8VNJWo-iBI/AAAAAAAABwk/u3wiYOqD0nIJNDEw8rCLkP7yD4p-wmX2wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--sEDNDTmDjo/W8VNJWo-iBI/AAAAAAAABwk/u3wiYOqD0nIJNDEw8rCLkP7yD4p-wmX2wCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_0488.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>Have you ever heard of Lynch, Kentucky? I hadn’t either, until a few years ago. This past weekend, I got to experience what God is doing there firsthand, as 54 men and young men from Antioch had our annual retreat at Shekinah Village. That’s a youth camp and conference center tucked in a valley in the Appalachian Mountains. It’s a wonderful place that offers fishing, horseback riding, hiking, and much more. And we all took advantage of the recreational and educational activities, including touring what was once the most productive coal mine in the nation, until it was shut down in 1963. But what we came back talking about was what God shared with us while we were there.<br /><br />All of the people who work at Shekinah Village, or at any of the ministries that are under the umbrella of Meridzo, do so without a salary. No, they are not independently wealthy, except in faith. They trust God to supply their needs, and we heard story after story about how that is happening.<br /><br />Meridzo Ministries began when Lonnie Riley left a senior pastor position in a mega-church in 1999, sold his big house and nice cars, and moved to Lynch, believing that God was sending him and his wife there to serve the people of Harlan County. Their website states, “30,000 missionaries have visited the Lynch, KY area over the last 10 years, and thousands of those ministered to have professed faith in Christ. These wonderful friends have assisted in bringing about physical and spiritual transformation to our region.” There were so many stories we heard, but one involved an African-American man, a Vietnam vet, who was living in a small house with no roof. Only a tarp covered his home, and the rain and snow had its way with him there. Lonnie heard about it and simply told the Lord that if he were given shingles, he would put a roof on the man’s house. The next day a woman called from Georgia and said she had 248 squares of shingles to donate. Do you need them?” Lonnie smiled and said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, we do.” The problem was they needed a truck to haul the shingles, so Lonnie prayed for a truck. A man called from western Kentucky to see if there was anything he could pray with Lonnie about. Lonnie told them they needed a semi. The man called back on the following Monday and said that a young man had been saved in his church recently. When the young man heard about the need for a truck, he called his non-Christian father who was in California. The father drove from California to Atlanta to Lynch at no charge. Three months later, the father became a Christian himself, as he saw that God was working in ways he could not explain. The vet’s house, by the way, took only 6 squares for the roof. They ended up putting new roofs on dozens of homes all over Lynch.<br /><br />I had read Lonnie’s book, “Miracle in the Mountains.” It reads like something out of the book of Acts. I had heard about this ministry from my son Caleb, and from Scott, Joseph and others who work at Feed the Hunger, and who regularly send food to Lynch. But seeing it for myself, and meeting the men and women who have given up everything to go and work there and serve there? That was a game-changer for me. And for all 54 of us from Antioch.<br /><br />During our final time of worship and testimonies on Saturday morning, one of the men said what we all were feeling. Todd said, “We cannot all leave our jobs and come to Lynch. There have to be people whom God calls on to supply the needs for that kind of ministry. But we can all live more simply, give more, and live by faith more. That’s the lesson I am taking back home.”<br /><br />I thank God for Meridzo Ministries, and for allowing us to be a part of what he is doing there.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/2-8k_Mz8rSs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/2-8k_Mz8rSs/one-town-you-ought-to-visit.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/10/one-town-you-ought-to-visit.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-2686715288074727852Mon, 08 Oct 2018 19:41:00 +00002018-10-08T15:41:05.002-04:00Why Forgive When You Can Sue?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xjma0gr6XDk/W7uysm5hFuI/AAAAAAAABwQ/wKs6L9rxlBkvAgRTdLIX8VujR8sjq7oMgCLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_69821783.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="879" data-original-width="1280" height="273" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xjma0gr6XDk/W7uysm5hFuI/AAAAAAAABwQ/wKs6L9rxlBkvAgRTdLIX8VujR8sjq7oMgCLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_69821783.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>Imagine this scene. One of your neighbors calls on a Saturday morning with an urgent request to come immediately to his front yard. You hang up and hustle over there, to find 30 chairs on his lawn, most of them already filled with neighbors. Directly in front of the chairs you see two children on a bench, sitting quietly and studying the ground. As more neighbors wander in, you see shrugs and hear whispers of ‘what’s going on?’ Then the neighbor who called the gathering stands in front and thanks everyone for coming. “When I woke up this morning,” he says, “I awoke to screaming. I ran into the living room and found these two children (pointing at the defendants) fighting with one another over a toy. They were both angry and red-faced, and each was absolutely certain that he had possession of the toy first. I need your help,” he says, “to resolve this matter.” His face is grim and his eyes pleading. His wife has refused to come out, but you see occasional glimpses through the bay window, as she hides behind the curtains in the living room.<br /><br />What would you say to your neighbor, besides, “Have you have totally lost your mind?” You would tell him that this is not a neighborhood matter, but a family matter. Surely, you might say, you are able to handle disputes among your own children.<br /><br />Silly analogy? Perhaps, but it’s not too far off the beam. The church in Corinth in the first century was no different from the church in your neighborhood, and mine. Church members were taking each other to court, and Paul was incredulous. He was not stupefied by the fact that there were grievances among them. That happens in any family. He was amazed and saddened that they were airing their dirty laundry in public.<br /><br />One of the favorite pastimes of the ancient Greeks, and, it would seem, the modern Americans, was to take someone to court. Or at least to go watch a friend sue somebody in court. Better yet, you could be chosen one morning to serve on a jury. There could be 200 jurors, plus one to break a tie, in a normal court case. In some cases, as many as 6,000 people served on the jury. Just imagine the chaos in that deliberation room.<br /><br />If you read the text in Paul’s letter, you will notice that the apostle was not writing to the city fathers of Corinth, trying to change the mindset of the world. He was writing to Christians, in the church, who were taking their fellow Christians to a civil court, laying their cases before “those who have no standing in the church.” Disputes between believers should be settled in the church, not in the court system. There are exceptions to that rule, I know. If a man is physically assaulting his wife, for example, that is a legal matter that will be handled as such, as any legal matter should. But if one man in the church slanders another, or if a woman takes up an offense for her child, that is a matter for the church members themselves to resolve.<br /><br />The late associate justice on the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, wrote this about our litigation-loving land: “I think we are too ready today to see vindication or vengeance through adversary proceedings, rather than peace through mediation…Good Christians, just as they are slow to anger, should be slow to sue.” Robert Taylor said, “Litigation is a manifestation of an absence of community.”<br /><br />Got a grievance with your kids’ behavior? That’s a family matter. Got a beef with a brother in the church? That, too, is a family matter. Work it out, to the glory of God and for the sake of peace.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/C0rGbkzFFwA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/C0rGbkzFFwA/why-forgive-when-you-can-sue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/10/why-forgive-when-you-can-sue.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7838707657180568843.post-2777600107049594897Mon, 01 Oct 2018 16:58:00 +00002018-10-01T12:58:34.741-04:00Come Let Us Worship <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NV6E5BrDNs8/W7JR_Amc6tI/AAAAAAAABv8/uuYN_iqj6CQHmH2-de2UtHccNUm0Pmc8ACLcBGAs/s1600/AdobeStock_39549332.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NV6E5BrDNs8/W7JR_Amc6tI/AAAAAAAABv8/uuYN_iqj6CQHmH2-de2UtHccNUm0Pmc8ACLcBGAs/s400/AdobeStock_39549332.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>The people in Acts 12, listening to Herod give a speech, shouted, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” They were in the flesh and so was he and soon he was in the grave. When he received the praise of men, an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. Here’s a good thing to remember: wrong worship leads to worms. I am not being funny. When men choose to worship themselves rather than their Creator, that worship stinks. It is wormy and corrupt, good for nothing. <br /><br />Read Psalm 95 for a primer on how and why we worship. The verbs tell the story in the first few verses. Come. There is a movement on the part of the worshiper from where he is to a place where he will worship. If you are driving down the road on the way to work and your mind is filled with many things, you can “come” to worship right there and begin to praise God. Do it. Also, don’t neglect to “come” to worship with the saints in the house of God. <br /><br />Sing. Worship and music are made for each other. And notice in Psalm 95, the invitation is corporate: let US sing. Worship is contagious. I am lifted higher in my worship when I am standing with people singing with all their might to the Lord. When I am surrounded by my brothers and sisters in Christ, I am moved by the power of God working in their lives as they worship. <br /><br />Shout joyfully. This takes freedom. It doesn’t take freedom to shout for men. People do that all the time, at ballgames or political rallies, but those who belong to God are called to shout joyfully for Him. Can you do it? Is it even allowed in your church? C.S. Lewis said, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment.” I like that. Our open exuberance for Christ makes our delight for Him even more enjoyable. <br /><br />We are also to come before His presence with thanksgiving. Do you ever think about the fact that when we believers are gathered for worship, God is also there? We are joined by the One we worship. When one of my sons was about four years old, he tugged on Cindy’s shirtsleeve one Sunday during the singing and said, “Momma, God and the angels are here!” He was right. Perhaps a child’s vision for the unseen is greater than ours that has been clouded by years of ‘learning.’ By the way, here’s a side-note. I am so thankful my children have been standing beside me in worship for the past 32 years, since the oldest was able to stand. They have not been separated from their parents in another part of the building. They are better worshipers for it. <br /><br />A.W. Tozer wrote 50 years ago: “To great sections of the church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the ‘program.’ This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service that now passes for worship among us.” When we come to watch instead of to worship, we are in trouble and the church is, too. When we come to be entertained rather than invited into God’s presence, maybe we need to reexamine what worship is.” <br /><br />Come, let us worship and bow down! <br /> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />
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</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~4/4H-ns_fuAsY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChristiansInContext/~3/4H-ns_fuAsY/come-let-us-worship.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Mark Fox)0http://www.christiansincontext.com/2018/10/come-let-us-worship.html